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Show 6 December 2001 Carbon and Emery County Sports Guide Vikings core players return to excel ECH bay's bashelball roster Head coach Steve Gutierrez is sure his basketball team at East Carbon High will be better that last years was. He is positive. After all the version of the Tkings boys team won very few games last year.. But that team was not as bad as its record would seem. Sure they lost their games, but in many they were very close to victory time and time again, only to have the wins snatched from them. That is a strong growing experience for any group of young men and is not lost on the returnees from that team. In fact, in mid December the team already had twice as many victories as they did last year, two. They also had two losses, but those came to two of the best 1A teams in the state. "We played Salt Lake Lutheran and their shooting and size really tested us," said the coach during a e interview. "We also played and lost to West Ridge at their place and lost. That was a very tall team, and we did well against them. The tough competition we are facingin the preseason is going to make us better in league play." That league, Region 18, has some very good teams in it, and according to preseason poles from coaches and the upstate media they believe the Vikings will finish last again. But the coach is positive they won't. "With the competition we are facing in the preseason and how it is tempering us, I think we are 2000-200- 1 half-tim- Coaches: Steve Gutierrez, Todd McFarland Associated Food Stores certainly going to surprise many people," says Gutierrez. That surprise will be in the form of a number of young men who faced that dismal season last year and are determined not to have that happen this year. Almost all schools have cross over athletes who play a number of sports, but in small schools like East Carbon the rate is even higher. So it is not surprising that the makeup of the Viking basketball squad looks a lot like the fall baseball team that went to the state before losing to Valley High School The similarity starts with the coaches. Gutierrez was an assistant coach with the baseball team while Todd McFarland was the head coach. On the basketball floor, McFarland is the assistant while Gutierrez is the head coach. When it comes to players, names semi-fina- ls like Tony McFarland, Pat Hanson, Joe Fryer, D J. Huitt, Kevin Cline, Jeremy Peak, Cameron Paiz and Austin Preston could be interchanged between the summer game uniforms and the on court game jerseys of the round ball sport. The stars of each sport are somewhat from point guard to shooting guard to the forward position on both sides of the court. He was the best rebounder on the team last year and the top scorer. Hanson, who returns as guard and forward gives a good ball handling dimension to the team and has some great moves to the basket Paiz, whose pow'er hitting on the baseball field was a key to East Carbon victories, brings an equally strong presence to the basketball court with his tall frame and his ability to fill the lane on defease. Preston, whose pitching flabbergasted many opposing teams with it's lazy like sail and roll also brings a strong guard presence to the court with some strong moves and smooth ball handling. Fryer brings a quickness to the defense and offense, while Cline and Peak bring explosiveness that other teams must guard against constantly. It will definitely be a better season this year than the last. How far this improved version of the Vikings will go is only up to them and their vision of what they can do. the same too. McFarland was named in baseball this fall and was also considered one of the best in the all-sta- te basketball world last winter. Things haven't changed there. McFarland plays almost every position on the court with his 62" frame he can move, and does move 1A rood lai town Ferron, Utah Phone: Fax: 435-384-28- 30 435-384-26- 99 Grants Restaurant At Sunday-Thursda- Friday y & Millsite Golf a.m. to 8:00 p.m. a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 11:00 Saturday 11:00 Also availablefor Banquets, Reunions & Special Occasions 384-243- 8 Good Luck to all our Local Athletes! from Southeast Chiropractic Clinic Dr. Kelly D. Terry, D.C. 55 North 600 East, Price, Utah 84501 (435)637-462- 1 Fax (435) 637-533- 9 has been one of the mainstays in the East Carbon basketball program. McFarland is considered one of the best players in 1A. He can Tony McFarland play every position and often brings the ball up for the team when pressure is applied by other squads. |